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Aurora (pronounced: /ɔːɛˈrɔːrɑː/ awe-ROAR-ah[1]) was a human wizard, a former adventurer, and the owner of the Aurora's Emporium chain of stores in the mid-to-late 14th century DR.[2][5][1]
Description[]
The literal face of the business. Drawn by Nadul DaRoni.
Not many people had actually seen Aurora and reports from those who had conflicted.[2][1][note 1] She was better known by her business than her face, and it was even supposed she intended it this way, so she could find good products without being recognized.[1] Despite this, the logo of the company was the face of an attractive woman within a circle; many thought this to be Aurora herself[6][2] and in fact it did depict her, but as a younger woman.[2] At least one portrait of Aurora was drawn by in-house inventor Nadul DaRoni.[7] As of 1370 DR, she appeared to be in early 40s and had a medium build.[2]
Personality[]
She was known to be friendly.[2]
Abilities[]
Possessions[]
Aurora's mage sigil.
Aurora possessed a number of magic items collected during her time as an adventurer, but had little use for them as a businesswoman. Instead, she favored items applicable to managing the business. These included eyes of minute seeing for close examination of proposed goods and a mirror of mental prowess for communicating with and keeping tracking of her agents.[2]
Relationships[]
Aurora in one of her warehouses with Jhegaan (left) and Thane (right).
Aurora had a daughter Lemily who carried on the family's business but struggled due to circumstances beyond her control.[3] Aurora's granddaughter Leleanor proved to be a cunning businesswoman and daring adventurer in her own right.[8]
Once, Aurora and Jhegaan had been lovers, but they remained very close friends. He worked as Aurora's assistant to deal with everyday affairs of the company.[2]
History[]
Aurora was an adventurer[2] and accomplished mage[1][4] who was a member of a far-ranging band of explorers, among them the bard Jhegaan the Maestro. With them, she traveled the length and breadth of Faerûn: from the Sword Coast in the west to the borders of Kara-Tur in the east, and from Icewind Dale in the north to Chult in the south. In each realm, she grew fascinated by the wide variety in cultures, cuisines, and comforts she encountered and by how Jhegaan interested an audience in his stories of other lands and their luxuries.[2]
A few years after the group split up and Aurora's retirement from the adventuring life, she settled down but sought a way to stay active, stave off boredom, and sate her love of exploration, and so she founded her business.[2][1][4] Her first shop was a little place in Waterdeep, named Aurora's Emporium, and it was initially only open for a few days each month after she came home from her travels bearing more exotic goods.[2] Nevertheless, Aurora made wise investments in the business.[9] Jhegaan elected to stay and help her, discovering a previously unguessed-at good business acumen himself.[10]
From such humble beginnings, the business grew and she began to open shops across Faerûn.[2] An Aurora's Emporium enjoyed success wherever one opened[1] and in the early 1360s DR, Aurora reported that she had a new outlet opening each month, promising that there was a good chance that someone reading her catalogue would soon have a store opening conveniently close to them.[5] Before long, it had become a multi-armed company that spanned the Realms and had agents in places further than even Aurora had traveled.[2]
At some point, Aurora was in Shadowdale attending an event hosted by Elminster when the gnomish inventor Nadul DaRoni met her and forcefully insisted his works should be included in Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. Aurora flatly rejected him. Nevertheless, he persisted and pestered until eventually Aurora agreed to examine his notes and tour his workshop, and cautiously agreed to present a handful of them.[11][12]
By 1367 DR, Aurora was a standout amongst the rising new class of non-guild merchants operating in Waterdeep.[13]
Unfortunately, the Spellplague of the Year of Blue Fire, 1385 DR and after caused a much greater, more long-lasting disruption to Aurora's Emporium operations, with failures in the teleportation network. Amidst that chaos, Aurora's successor and daughter, Lemily, had a difficult time keeping the company together. Much of it was lost, with only a handful of outlets in the major cities remaining in business by the late 1400s DR, among them Waterdeep, Westgate, and Baldur's Gate.[9]
By the late 1470s DR, a greatly aged Aurora managed an Aurora's Emporium in Westgate as a fashionable curio shop. Here she sold exotic trinkets and treasures from all around Toril: Calishite smoking implements, Cormanthyran cloth; couatl-feather headdresses from Maztica, coral jewelry from Myth Nantar, clothes from Damara, hooked blades from Var, a Tuigan bow and arrows from the Hordelands, satyr's pipes, and so forth.[14] [note 2]
On Shieldmeet of the Year of Deep Water Drifting, 1480 DR, Ilira Nathalan, Myrin Darkdance, and Rujia visited the Westgate Aurora's Emporium and met Aurora. Ilira knew her and the two spoke privately, while Myrin noticed Hessar also browsing.[14]
Still in Westgate, after a century of being shut down, the portals in the abandoned Blais House inn had begun to cause instabilities in local magic, which led to interference in the nearby Aurora's Emporium's own teleportation network in the Year of the Rune Lords Triumphant, 1487 DR. To resolve it, Aurora looked to recruit adventurers to reenter Blais House and fix the portals, and maybe even reopen the inn.[15]
Appendix[]
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Notes[]
- ↑ This confusion over Aurora's appearance may be alluding to the different depictions of Aurora, with two in Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue (one repurposed from the cover art of Pools of Darkness depicting Shal Bal) and a third in Cloak & Dagger.
- ↑ Eye of Justice implies this Aurora is the same Aurora, because Myrin, who has been temporally displaced from the late 1300s DR, appears to recognize her. If so, Aurora would be over 150 years old—unnaturally old for a human, but not unusual for wizards and characters of this era. Aurora may have retired to this curio shop, cutting back her involvement in the larger company. Alternatively, this is a descendant of the same name.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Ed Greenwood, Julia Martin, Jeff Grubb (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (revised), Running the Realms. (TSR, Inc), p. 31. ISBN 1-5607-6617-4.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Steven E. Schend, Sean K. Reynolds and Eric L. Boyd (June 2000). Cloak & Dagger. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 135. ISBN 0-7869-1627-3.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Greg Marks (2015-07-01). Oubliette of Fort Iron (DDEX2-11) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Elemental Evil (Wizards of the Coast), p. 7.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cardsheets included in Greenwood, Martin, Grubb (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (revised). (TSR, Inc). ISBN 1-5607-6617-4.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jeff Grubb, Julia Martin, Steven E. Schend et al (1992). Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. (TSR, Inc), pp. 5–6. ISBN 0-5607-6327-2.
- ↑ Jeff Grubb, Julia Martin, Steven E. Schend et al (1992). Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. (TSR, Inc), p. 1. ISBN 0-5607-6327-2.
- ↑ Jeff Grubb, Julia Martin, Steven E. Schend et al (1992). Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. (TSR, Inc), p. 154. ISBN 0-5607-6327-2.
- ↑ Greg Marks (2015-07-01). Oubliette of Fort Iron (DDEX2-11) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Elemental Evil (Wizards of the Coast), p. 26.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Greg Marks (2015-07-01). Oubliette of Fort Iron (DDEX2-11) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Elemental Evil (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 5, 7.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Sean K. Reynolds and Eric L. Boyd (June 2000). Cloak & Dagger. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 135–136. ISBN 0-7869-1627-3.
- ↑ Jeff Grubb, Julia Martin, Steven E. Schend et al (1992). Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. (TSR, Inc), pp. 147–159. ISBN 0-5607-6327-2.
- ↑ Thomas M. Costa (2004-14-01). Nadul DaRoni. Realms Personalities. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2004-02-04. Retrieved on 2016-08-05.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Julia Martin, Jeff Grubb (1993). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (revised), A Grand Tour of the Realms. (TSR, Inc), p. 106. ISBN 1-5607-6617-4.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Erik Scott de Bie (September 2012). Eye of Justice. (Wizards of the Coast), loc. 3553. ISBN 978-0-7869-6135-1.
- ↑ Erik Scott de Bie (October 2013). “Backdrop: Westgate”. In Miranda Horner ed. Dragon #428 (Wizards of the Coast), p. 12.